CONCERN is growing that the retail heart is being ripped out of Handforth.

Plans have been submitted to turn three village shops into restaurants and commercial offices.

A Handforth councillor has called in the three planning applications for The Paddock in a bid to stop the retail drain.

Traders are determined to fight the loss of retail space and they have called on the community to invest in its own village, by shopping locally.

Councillor Barry Burkhill said: "The whole thing will just collapse as a retail shopping area the way it is going. Only 30 per cent of The Paddock should be for non-retail and we know we went past that some time ago."

The application seeks to change the classification of stores in The Paddock shopping precinct from retail shops into commercial office or takeaway premises.

Coun Barry Burkhill said: "I have called the thing in because the viability of the retail sector is in peril, that is because the rents are too high. They want to make the maximum profit out of the place and charge the maximum rent through commercial properties."

Coun Burkhill said although hit hard by the Handforth Dean development, the town was just beginning to recover.

But moves to change the balance of trade in Handforth by letting go of shops and setting up more take aways would discourage shoppers, and have a domino effect on other traders, he warned.

Carol Gattow Hall, of Peter Herd bakery, which has been trading in Handforth for 38 years said: "What will happen is that some of the businesses that have been fighting for survival for the past five or ten years will go."

She admitted Handforth is fighting against the might of the "big boys" like Tesco and Marks and Spencer on the by-pass.

But she urged residents to make a stand and shop locally to safeguard the village.

"People don’t live on the by-pass, they don’t drive through the by-pass on their way home, they live in the village, and if they want their village to look attractive they need to invest in it", she said.

"People will also go to the supermarkets, everybody does, but unless they spend a portion of their wages in the village, traders will not be able to survive and invest in the village that supports them.

"That is what makes the area look attractive, and keeps the community thriving, nobody wants to see boarded up shops."

Rose Hopkinson, of Victoria Highfield Jewellers said: "It’s like the Titanic, they’re all jumping ship. The popularity of The Paddock has never really grown since we’ve been here and it won’t grow if nobody does anything to encourage matters."

The traders are urging residents to ‘shop locally’ to safeguard the village outlets.

Retailers rallied in September to object to an application to change the use of unit four at The Paddock to a takeaway, sending in 100 letters of objection to the plans which were later withdrawn.

They were concerned that it currently has 17 restaurant and takeaway stores in a quarter mile stretch of the village.

They were surprised to see that the current crop of three similar applications for neighbouring stores, lodged just a few weeks later, made no mention for their objection on the council agenda.